1. Field
This invention relates generally to data communications, and more specifically, to a virtual application delivery chassis system.
2. Background
Web services and cloud computing are deployed in an unprecedented pace. New servers are unloaded and installed at datacenters every day. Demands of web services and corporate computing come from all directions. Consumer oriented services include iPhone™ apps, mobile applications such as location based services, turn-by-turn navigation services, e-book services such as Kindle™, video applications such as YouTube™ or Hulu™, music applications such as Pandora™0 or iTunes™, Internet television services such as Netflix™, and many other fast growing consumer Web services. On the corporate front, cloud computing based services such as Google™ docs, Microsoft™ Office Live and Sharepoint™ software, Salesforce.com™'s on-line software services, tele-presence and web conferencing services, and many other corporate cloud computing services.
As a result more and more servers are deployed to accommodate the increasing computing needs. These servers are typically managed by server load balancers (SLB) or application delivery controllers (ADC). ADC is typically a network appliance, such as A10 Network's AX-Series traffic manager. ADC manages the load balancing and delivery of service sessions from client host computers to servers based on incoming service requests. As more servers are deployed, more ADC's are deployed accordingly. Similarly as more servers are pooled together within a data center or spread across multiple data centers to provide a scalable solution for services, ADC's become a bottleneck.